So, I'm back. And I must say that I throughly enjoyed England. So much that I will sell a kidney to get back.
Well.... someone else's kidney... I don't like pain.
I didn't post while over there because I didn't have easy access to picture I love peppering my blog with. That, and the fact that I was constantly busy and running off to do a billion things.
Have no fear, I'm going to post some excerpts from my journal to give you a real sense of what was going on while I was over there. Do forgive the kitchy-ness. So, on to the excerpts:
6 July
So, Fran Drescher sat behind me on the flight to Atlanta. Not really, but I swear she sounded just like her: the laugh, the voice, everything. Although she didn't look like her.
As we got closer to the Atlanta airport, I looked out the window and spotted a highway. Suddenly, my head was filled with the music from Tetris. Lucky for me, I have a nice lump of video game music on my mp3 player.
8 July
Most of the buildings here are old and gorgeous and the streets are packed with interesting people from all over, like Africa and Korea, as well as the lovely Brits. The scenery totally reminds me of Massachusetts... or should I say Massachusetts reminds me of here since England was first then New England was made. We (Stephanie and I) walked back to the dormitory and crossed over Waterloo Bridge, with its gorgeous view of the London Eye, Big Ben and Westminster Palace. I wonder if Londoners get disenchanted with the view?
The weather? Let's just say that England is fabulous during the summer.
9 July
The girls and I rode the Tube to Oxford Circus and I bought a breast cancer donation pin in TopShop. Now I support boobie awareness in the US and in England. Then we went into a pharmacy where we met a cashier who poses for the Rock impersonator shots. He was really excited that we were from the US. He exclaimed "I love my American customers!" We love you too, Rock impersonator dude.
11 July
(One of my more busy days)
My London alive tour today was awesome! We walked around Parliment and Big Ben, walked through the barracks of the Royal Cavalry(horse guards), saw Westminster Abbey, walked through St. James's Park, caught a glimpse of Buckingham Palace, saw St. James's Palace and walked to Trafalgar Square. There's a legend that if you climb one of the bronze lions there, then you are destined to return to London. Not only did I climb one, I also have photographic proof! It was really scary and quite a feat to get up there; the things were huge! We had to do that silly cheerleader thing were you make a basket with your hands and one person puts their foot in the basket and jumps up. I skinned my elbow tackling that lion, but I suppose it's a small price to pay.
12 July
I went to the Tate Modern museum with Danea and made a beeline for the Surrealism section. I got to see 'Celebes' by Max Ernst in person! I was insanely giddy and giggly about it. The art history books do none of these paintings any justice. I'm so jealous of the art students who live here, they don't have to depend on books, they can just pop into the museum.
14 July
I'm already dreading leaving here. One thing I'm really going to miss is being able to walk everywhere, by way of the Underground. When I get home, if I want to go anywhere, I'll have to get gas and drive myself there. Danea and I got our EuroStar passes today for the minibreak. It's going to be neat traveling under the English Channel -- it's like another attraction to visit. Also, I got a discount because 25-year-olds are still considered youths -- Lucky me!!
Alright, enough for now. Off to sell more things on eBay. I've got a laptop and a season of Doctor Who to save up for. :D
Well, this is it. I'll be leaving for jolly old England in a few hours. Absolutely terrified.
Going to be flying over the Atlantic in a big flying box of metal, pain and airplane food.
Nine hours of flying... well actually there's more than that. I have to fly from one airport to the next, wait through a three hour layover and then fly nine hours and who knows how long it will take in Gatwick.
Anywho, I'll be posting interesting stuff when I get the chance; so tune in next time for:
An American Girl in the British Isles and Europe.
Man, I want that shirt.
So, I looked up 'addiction' at dictionary.com and the first definition was:
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
Hmm... I maybe addicted to eBay. And not in the standard "I must buy everything!" kinda way. More along the lines of "I must sell everything!" kinda way. I've made $160 so far and I'm loving it. I haven't made much of a dent in my large collection of stuff, (re: pack rat) but I'm getting there. Go to eBay and search for rosethepirate and check out my wares. Beware, there's a lot of rabid fangirl/boy stuff there; but also some neat stuffs too.
On a more annoying note, student loan people have been hassling me non-stop. And these aren't the people who take care of my loans. The people who take care of my loans sent me nice little letters with apples on them. No, these are the people who 'want' to 'take care' of my loan. AKA: they want me monies.
Come on! I haven't graduated/started paying yet!
It was ok at first, when they were nice about it - but now they're calling everyday and being really rude. Since when is it ok to call at 7:30 in the evening? I'm not really comfortable giving out my SS number over the phone to random people and I try to be nice about it. But these people really don't like rejection. Just yesterday, this women accused me of having money to throw around and not liking to save money.
Do what now?
You are talking to the same girl who talks herself into buying things because they're on sale.... used to.... really I'm trying not to... sometimes things are so cute!
And I'm a poor student thank-you-very-much. I, at one time, considered getting big jars, slapping sad faces on them and setting them up at various places to help get money. You know, like the jars with sad babies on them and pull at peoples' heartstrings...
Well, not my heartstrings, but that's probably because I liken babies to parasites, but that's neither here nor there.
Hah... posting one of my own pictures to perhaps plug my stuff? ...maybe
For those of you that don't know me real well -- I'm a bit of a hypochondriac; and right now I'm imagining (hopefully just imagining) that there's a tumor in the part of my thigh where the thigh meets the hip. Yeah, right there -- cancer everywhere...
And now I can't sleep...
Eyes completely open and freaked out.
I was so close to falling asleep and then, Bam! Cancer scare!
Ugh, I really need someone to talk me down from this scary cancer ledge; I keep shifting between anger and panic and it's not fun.
Now on to delightful distraction:
I should talk about something of some sort of relevance or some current event -- but I don't really keep up with the news, it kinda makes me paranoid.
Honestly, there should be some sort of drug or treatment on the market that will make me sane at least enough to let me sleep.
I've been cleaning all day and tomorrow's outlook looks to be the same -- I require sleep! The past few days have been kinda stressful and I haven't really been averaging the healthy amount of sleep at night. Really, dark bags under the eyes are ok, kinda cute and can even be a little sultry up to a point. Once you begin to be able to park a car in them is a point where it stops being acceptable.
I should sell my stuff -- I wouldn't have to clean so much...
That's actually not a bad idea. Not only do I need to have less stuff, I also need to start making a dent in my humongous student loan debt aka the scary cloud of panic-inducing fright.
Oh crap...
Now the scary cloud of panic-inducing fright has tumors...
It's going to be a long and weird night.
Summer.
It means three things to me: beaches, grilling and the delicious smell of Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil.
Yeah, I realize that last one is a bit weird but I LOVE that smell.
Given, my naturally tan self needs no suntan oil; you'll find me in Wal-Mart, Target and other stores cracking open the bottle and huffing in the lovely aroma.
I've gotten plenty of weird stares.
This summer however is different. For the entire span of this summer I will be avoiding the sun like the plague - which is depressing, because I love the sun.
The upper part of my back and the backs of my upper arms are really sensitive for some reason and for the past year it's been rejecting my baby fine peach fuzz. In layman's terms: it looks gross; there's weird red spots on my skin and it looks angry.
For the next three months, the nearly $200 of medicine I slather on my angry areas (night and day) says to avoid sun exposure, if I have to be in the sun wear sunscreen, protective clothings and cut my exposure down to a minimum.
So, when I'm walking from my car to a store: I'm running from tree to tree, borrowing their shade or sporting a parasol and constantly knocking things over with it.
Another thing that makes this summer different than any of the rest is the fact that I'll be going to Europe for a month for the British Studies Program.
Whoo! Rocking it in Europe! Watch out Europe and hide all of your breakable items! I might not come back!
Well, no... I will.
I'm graduating next semester, so I might as well come back. But after that, who knows?! There's scholarships for graduates to go over there - I'm just not sure if I want to go to graduate school. :/
Whatever happened to romance?
I realize that we live in an 'immediate gratification' society, where everyone is trying to beat everyone else to the punch. Where lightning fast internet and up-to-the-minute news isn't fast enough. Where competitiveness is a sport and a much sought after quality.
Myself, I prefer a nice smile and a good sense of humor... that's probably why I would never make it as a retail manager or in any sort of competitive job.
But, I digress...
Whatever happened to slow, soft kisses and holding hands?
They seem to have been replaced with hurrying to stick one's tongue down the other's throat and jumping into bed right after meeting someone.
Call me old fashioned, but it takes more than three dates at allow someone to see the holiest of my holies.
Is chivalry dead? Women blame it on men; men blame it on women.
Honestly, I think it's both. Men think they can get away with things because there are women out there who let them. And the men who act like gentlemen are shunned by some women into acting... well... ungentlemenly.
I like walks along the beach, sitting around in pajamas eating ice creams and watching movies, hugs, shy glances across the room, roses(who knew?), soft-sweet kisses, more hugs, talking for hours, snuggling and of course, romance.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Rose and I'm a love-aholic.
Nothing much going on... watched a few movies: Hot Fuzz, Spider-Man 3, eagerly waiting to watch 28 Weeks Later; there was a main theme among these movies: Hyundai commercials.
Granted, not all movies theaters are the same nor are they going to have the same ridiculous amount of advertisements before the movie, but if anyone patrons a United Artists, The Grand or similar, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
If there's one brand of car I'm not going to get, it's a Hyundai. Not because I've heard bad things about the cars, not because there's any sort of car recall on them; it's because the commercials are so damn pretentious. Every time I see a Hyundai now, I think "What a douche bag."
I've studied different techniques for advertisements, and some of them actually work; but this one isn't working with me. I'm sure that the thought process behind this was, "If we seem really confident, people will trust us and flock to the dealerships." Sure... but you guys just sound like a bunch of jerks.
Especially about the one that was giving you a choice between a Hyundai and a car that could parallel-park itself.
Who wouldn't want a car that parks itself?!?!
Hyundai, you are now on my dislike list.
P.S. I really enjoyed Hot Fuzz.
P.P.S. Cut out the adverts and just give me more previews! Honestly, I could watch previews all day.
P.P.P.S. I love Shadow of the Colossus!
